tom@tsdiag.UUCP (11/19/87)
THIS IS A FORWARDED MESSAGE Follows is the *REAL* header:
From: n2dsy@hou2d.UUCP (G.BEATTIE)
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel
Date: 12 Nov 87 21:09:05 GMT
I have been looking around for something similar to the
ANSI X3.64 Terminal Protocol Specification for printers
or printing terminals. I guess that in some "ideal"
world we would have something analogous to the Virtual
Terminal Protocol for printers, but I am willing and
seeking suggestions regarding printer standards for
simple and medium-complexity printers.
Please don't tell me about Centronics interfaces -
that's hardware cabling. What I'm interested in is
carriage control, carriage size, forward and backward
vertical and horizontal tabs, etc...
Any thoughts ?
Thanks,
J. Gordon Beattie, Jr.
Unix: ihnp4!hou2d!n2dsy Voice: (201) 387-8896
Amateur: n2dsy @ kd6th/3100201 Home: (201) 615-4168 (FAX x4669)
--
Thomas A. Moulton, W2VY Life is too short to be mad about things.
Home: (201) 779-W2VY Packet: w2vy@kd6th Voice: 145.190 (r)
Work: (201) 492-4880 x3226 FAX: (201) 493-9167
Concurrent Computer Corp. uucp: ...!ihnp4!hotps!ka2qhd!w2vyandrea@hp-sdd.HP.COM (Andrea K. Frankel) (11/25/87)
In article <135@tsdiag.UUCP> tom@tsdiag.UUCP writes: > >THIS IS A FORWARDED MESSAGE Follows is the *REAL* header: >From: n2dsy@hou2d.UUCP (G.BEATTIE) > >I have been looking around for something similar to the >ANSI X3.64 Terminal Protocol Specification for printers >or printing terminals. I guess that in some "ideal" >world we would have something analogous to the Virtual >Terminal Protocol for printers, but I am willing and >seeking suggestions regarding printer standards for >simple and medium-complexity printers. ECMA has a task group working on printer formats; their current proposal is called a "Standard Page Description Language" which can be translated to actual PDL's such as Postscript or printer languages such as PCL. Presumably a "standard PDL" could be implemented directly in a printer in the future. The ISO committee TC97/SC18 (and the corresponding ANSC X3V1) are also working in this area. You can contact ANSI in New York to get a contact for X3V1 committee work; that should give you an in to the other groups as well. Andrea Frankel, Hewlett-Packard (San Diego Division) (619) 592-4664 "...like a song that's born to soar the sky" ______________________________________________________________________________ UUCP : ...hplabs!hp-sdd!andrea from {ihnp4|cbosgd|allegra|decvax|gatech|sun|tektronix} or ...hp-sdd!andrea from {hp-pcd|hpfcla|hpda|noscvax|gould9|sdcsvax} Internet : andrea%hp-sdd@ {nosc.mil | sdcsvax.ucsd.edu | hplabs.HP.com} CSNET : andrea%hp-sdd@hplabs.csnet USnail : 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USA
robert@pyr.gatech.EDU (Robert Viduya) (11/25/87)
> From: n2dsy@hou2d.UUCP (G.BEATTIE) > > I have been looking around for something similar to the > ANSI X3.64 Terminal Protocol Specification for printers > or printing terminals. The ANSI X3.64 (or it's international equivalent ISO 6429) standard is general enough to be applied to printers. Neither standard ties itself to just CRTs. Using both ANSI X3.4 (ISO 646) and ANSI X3.64 (ISO 6429) should give you enough functions for ordinary printing terminals. You'll have to trim them a bit, obviously (insert/delete-line/char would be a bit difficult to implement), but the standards don't require you to implement everything. robert -- Robert Viduya robert@pyr.gatech.edu Office of Computing Services Georgia Institute of Technology (404) 894-4660 Atlanta, Georgia 30332
kent@xanth.UUCP (Kent Paul Dolan) (11/25/87)
Gorden, I don't know how much of a standard you want, but if you are looking for something that works well in practice, look into the method used by Commmodore in their Amiga line of computers. They have chosen or designed a device neutral language for printing commands that all adhering programs use to "talk printer". Then, for each printer type, the vendor designs a printer driver that reads this device neutral format printer code and converts it to the commands for that specific printer. The device neutral language seems quite powerful, and it covers both character mode and (for raster printers) graphics mode commands. The details are in: Amiga Rom Kernal Reference Manual, Libraries and Devices, Commodore Business Machines, Inc., Addison Wesley Publishing Company, Inc., ISBN 0-201-11078-4, US$34.95. See especially the table of commands beginning on page e-38 and the one on e-41. The "standard" seems to be a mix of ANSII x3.64 and DEC usages, plus some stuff home brewed by Commodore. As I say, it works VERY well, and I wish more micro manufacturers would adopt it, because it uncouples applications programs from the printer drivers, making all programs usable with (almost) all printers. I know it has allowed a mix of Daisy Wheel, 9 pin raster, 24 pin raster, laser, and ink-jet printers for the Amiga with no change to applications programs. Kent, the man from xanth.
hrs@homxb.UUCP (11/29/87)
In article <1039@hp-sdd.HP.COM>, andrea@hp-sdd.HP.COM (Andrea K. Frankel) writes: > In article <135@tsdiag.UUCP> tom@tsdiag.UUCP writes: > > > >THIS IS A FORWARDED MESSAGE Follows is the *REAL* header: > >From: n2dsy@hou2d.UUCP (G.BEATTIE) > > > >I have been looking around for something similar to the > >ANSI X3.64 Terminal Protocol Specification for printers > >or printing terminals. I guess that in some "ideal" > >world we would have something analogous to the Virtual > >Terminal Protocol for printers, but I am willing and > >seeking suggestions regarding printer standards for > >simple and medium-complexity printers. > > ECMA has a task group working on printer formats; their current > proposal is called a "Standard Page Description Language" which > can be translated to actual PDL's such as Postscript or printer > languages such as PCL. Presumably a "standard PDL" could be > implemented directly in a printer in the future. > > The ISO committee TC97/SC18 (and the corresponding ANSC X3V1) > are also working in this area. > > You can contact ANSI in New York to get a contact for X3V1 > committee work; that should give you an in to the other groups > as well. > > Andrea Frankel, Hewlett-Packard (San Diego Division) (619) 592-4664 > "...like a song that's born to soar the sky" > ______________________________________________________________________________ > UUCP : ...hplabs!hp-sdd!andrea from > {ihnp4|cbosgd|allegra|decvax|gatech|sun|tektronix} > or ...hp-sdd!andrea from {hp-pcd|hpfcla|hpda|noscvax|gould9|sdcsvax} > Internet : andrea%hp-sdd@ {nosc.mil | sdcsvax.ucsd.edu | hplabs.HP.com} > CSNET : andrea%hp-sdd@hplabs.csnet > USnail : 16399 W. Bernardo Drive, San Diego CA 92127-1899 USA ANSI X3V1, Text, Office, and Publishing Systems has jurisdiction in the US over printer driver standard, and is the US counterpart of ISO JTC1/SC18. Postscript, (Xerox) Interpress, and DDL are al being proposed as sources for the Standard Page Description Language. As a "de facto standard" Postscript is likely to be influential, although it currently is seen as having some drawbracks in the large size of its files. The standard will have binary (ASN.1) and SGML versions as well as cleartext versions. X3V1 will meet December 7-11 in OakRidge, TN. Interested people are invited to participate. If you want more information, call or send email. Herman Silbiger ...!ihnp4!homxb!hrs 201 949 3193 Chair, X3V1.3